March 16, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



337 



extent of offering Its silver medal once 

 a year for collections of cut roses, 

 roses in pots, etc., to be judged accord- 

 ing to the scale of the Rose Society, it 

 would add much interest to the ex- 

 hibitions and our society would gather 

 strength and prestige thereby. 



If the financial resources of the so- 

 ciety were adequate I would favor the 

 holding of an exhibition in June, as 

 well as March, so that the rose loving 

 public could see and become acquainted 

 with the beautiful out door roses that 

 we cannot place before them in March, 

 such as Frau Karl Druschki, Baroness 

 Rothschild, Mrs. John Laing, etc. The 

 June exhibition would be more popu- 

 lar, more interesting and do more to 

 educate the masses in rose culture than 

 it is possible to do with an exhibition 

 of indoor roses in March. 



If the catalogue men of the country, 

 we have some of the gentlemen here 

 today, could be induced to give a page 

 of their catalogue each year to a state- 

 ment of the aims and purposes of the 

 Rose Society and advocate member- 

 ship in it to their customers, great 

 possibilities would immediately loom 

 up before the society. 



It is reasonable to suppose that our 

 membership could be multiplied sev- 

 eral times within a year it all present 

 would resolve to make a point to in- 

 terest their friends and business ac- 

 quaintances by correspondence, by per- 

 sonal appeal or in any other legiti- 

 mate way that presented itself. 



The Society offers gold and silver 

 medals at its exhibition's for new 

 varieties, the object in offering these 

 being to encourage the production of 

 novelties of sterling merit, but in rul- 

 ing that a novelty must score at least 

 95 points to win the gold medal we 

 practically make it impossible to win 

 it at all. 



Very few judges would be willing to 

 say that a flower was perfect in form, 

 in color, in fragrance or distinctiveness 

 or in fact in any one particular, yet a 

 variety with as many good points as 

 Liberty or Killarney or Richmond, 

 should have a chance to win the gold 

 medal of the society. We should of 

 course maintain a high standard in the 

 giving of such awards, but we should 

 at the same time avoid exacting im- 

 possible conditions. I ask you to con- 

 sider whether or not the rule govern- 

 ing the judging of novelties needs to 

 De revised. 



At the 1906 meeting you will remem- 

 ber that much time was taken up dis- 

 cussing the desirability and practicabil- 

 ity of establishing a permanent fund of 

 considerable size for the uses of the 

 society; all agreed that it was desir- 

 able, but the meeting could not agree 

 on any particular plan of action. We 

 have today in America many men so 

 enriched with this world's goods that 

 their chief concern in life is to find the 

 best way to spend this vast accumula- 

 tion of wealth, that it may accomplish 

 the greatest amount of good tor the 

 largest number of people. 



Art, education, science, religion, hu- 

 manitarianism, have each received 

 their millions to aid in prosecuting the 

 work of blessing mankind along their 

 particular lines. It is a good thing to 

 pay out $100,000 for a fine painting and 

 present it to a museum of art where it 

 can be seen and admired, and furnish 

 inspiration to thousands of people. It 

 is noble to endow our institutions of 

 learning so that our youth may have 

 the privileges of higher education. It 



is still better to provide the means for 

 caring for the sick, the suffering, the 

 aged and the homeless, but it is a ques- 

 tion if in establishing a fund of ample 

 proportions out of which this society 

 might disseminate information and 

 furnish the inspiration which would 

 result in the beautifying of hundreds of 

 thousands of homes all over our land, 

 and bringing joy and brightness into 

 the hearts and lives of still larger 

 numbers of our people, the man of 

 means would not be choosing the very 

 best way, from an artistic, educational, 

 humanitarian, or sociological point of 

 view, of investing the wealth which a 

 kind Providence has placed in his 

 hands and made him the steward and 

 custodian. I am sufficiently optimistic 

 to think tliat if a committee composed 

 of the right men should take hold of 

 this matter and present it properly to 

 men of large means and philanthropic 

 tendencies, a fund could be established, 

 permanent in character, the income o£ 

 which only could be used by the so- 

 ciety. 



Gentlemen, it rests with you to take 

 such action on this and other matters 

 as your combined wisdom may consider 

 best. 



I trust your stay in the city of Wash- 

 ington may be both pleasant and 

 profitable. 



Secretary Hammond's report fol- 

 lowed. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



Reviewing the work of the American 

 Rose Society since the last annual 

 meeting, held at Boston, March 27, 

 28 and 29, 1906, the secretary feels as 

 if there was much interest scattered 

 far and wide in this society. Our pres- 

 ent membership extends from Belling- 

 ham in Northwestern Washington to 

 Schlesiau, Germany. We have lost in 

 all five life members by death, B. G. 

 Asmuc, E. M. Wood, H. Dale, George 

 Fancourt and J. L. Dillon, these last 

 two within the past year, and each of 

 these men were active rose-growers; 

 two new life members were added to 

 our list, S. S. Pennock and Robert 

 Simpson, which leaves 43 active. The 

 annual membership who have paid up 

 their dues for this year number 91, 

 divided as 85 actual and 6 associate 

 members. This division of associate 

 members seems as if it may bring into 

 touch with this society an extended 

 number of people interested in local 

 societies. 



We have Dr. Spencer S. Sulliuger, 

 President of the Rosarians of Belling- 

 ham, Wash., and Rev. J. R. Lawrence 

 of Massachusetts. Both of these men 

 are clergymen alike interested in creat- 

 ing in their locality a taste for civic 

 improvement. From Germany comes 

 Dr. G. Molwes with the hand of fel- 

 lowship to those who in America have 

 to do with roses. With this line of 

 members what can the society do to 

 interest and attach more of the same 

 sort? One thing is a full and com- 

 prehensive report of the proceedings. 



As a new man at this work I have 

 found there is a lot of detail to keep 

 in touch with our membership and to 

 get a revenue sufficient to cover cost 

 of the necessary postage, printing, and 

 clerical work to systematically carry it 

 on. It calls for an actual annual ex- 

 penditure of more than the society can 

 well afford, unless there is some finan- 

 cial support more than the present 

 limited number of annual dues. 



This American Rose Society can 



bring itself before the general public 

 in no more effective manner than by 

 a liberal offering of its medals gold, 

 silver or bronze, as prizes to be 

 awarded tor some tangible work, by 

 the various local societies. To illus- 

 trate, in 1901 and 1903, this society gave 

 as a prize to the Annandale Annual 

 Rose Show a silver medal. I am as- 

 sured that this medal was very much 

 appreciated, and an application was 

 made by Miss Caroline Cruger, the 

 secretary at Barrytown, N. Y., for this 

 consideration again. The Executive 

 Committee then directed that a medal 

 should be offered. Now if this is a 

 matter of interest to one local society, 

 it would be so to many, if we can 

 extend our usefulness in this line. 

 The gentlemen who were active in the 

 formation of this society certainly did 

 a lot of good work to give the society 

 a start. Our die for these medals is 

 in storage at the Philadelphia Mint, 

 and the design is a very pretty thing. 



The past year, by the advice and 

 consent of the executive committee, X 

 had made a design for this society 

 and placed thereon these words "A 

 Rose for every home, A Bush for every 

 garden" and this device marks all 

 our stationery distinctively. 



This year we printed one thousand 

 schedules in pamphlet form and mailed 

 one to each member and the balance 

 were sent out as advertisements, so to 

 speak, of the Rose Society; a few 

 hundred were mailed to growers all 

 about the country; the Annual Report 

 was likewise treated. 



Last September I was in Chicago for 

 several days and attended a meeting of 

 the Cook County Horticultural Society, 

 and was introduced with genuine cor- 

 diality as Secretary of the American 

 Rose Society, upon which occasion the 

 opportunity presented itselt, and I put 

 before that gathering the aims and 

 doings of the American Rose Society. 

 We have as one of our judges in at- 

 tendance at this exhibition Mr. Haus- 

 wirth, who has come to our society 

 without cost or hoi)e of reward in com- 

 mon with our friends, William Kasting, 

 of Buffalo, and Robert Craig, the first 

 President of the Rose Society. 



The Chicago Florist Club sends to 

 the American Rose Society an invita- 

 tion to fix the place of its next meet- 

 ing in that city. Your executive com- 

 mittee has held six formal meetings 

 during the past 12 months, members 

 coming on to New York from Wash- 

 ington, Boston, Hillside, Pa., So. 

 Orange Clifton, Summit, N. J., Tarry- 

 town and Fishkillon-Hudson, N. Y., 

 to attend. This interest shown by the 

 committee was echoed back by the 

 rose growers who are here today in 

 force, but to our knowledge if the 

 sunlight had been up to normal the 

 past two months this exhibition large 

 as it is, fine as it is, would have been 

 more than double. 



There are two questions on our pro- 

 gramme, suggested by President Simp- 

 son, that are of imperative interest and 

 which will be before the meeting to- 

 morrow, and these questions, friends, 

 are topics which your secretary, for 

 the future prosperity of the American 

 Rose Society, commends to your in- 

 dividual attention. 



Treasurer May then presented his 

 report showing a cash balance of 

 $324.94. The reports were received 

 with warm applause. Theodore Wlrth, 

 Supt. of Parks, Minneapolis, Minn., was 



